Chapter 13 #2
Nate’s face melts with relief. “Thank goodness. I can’t do this without you.”
Nate is obviously exaggerating, but something about the comment warms me all the same.
It’s then I notice Dave climbing the stairs, followed by Jamie and Corbin. I nod my head in their direction so Nate sees. “This is some deep stuff, but I’m afraid we’re out of time. Be sure to pay for your therapy session today, otherwise interest rates are through the roof.”
“Yikes, I wouldn’t want to incur that. I’ll cover dinner tonight.”
“Deal.”
“Everything okay?” Dave interrupts, rounding the corner to where we are.
Without thinking, I grab one of Nate’s hands from the railing and wrap it in my own. “It is now.” I give Nate’s hand a squeeze. “I’m a little freaked out about the height and all, but Brody calmed me down.”
Nate studies me as Dave says, “Good, because we need to get rolling. Sixteen of these suckers, so no time to waste.”
Nate’s hand tightens around mine. When Dave goes to head back down, Nate mouths sixteen?
I squeeze his hand twice, hoping the action relays something like This is going to be okay or whatever Nate did to make jet skiing fine, perhaps without realizing.
As I help him up the stairs to the zipline, I feel indebted to him in a way I somehow know he’d never call on me to repay.
“You can do this,” I whisper as he slowly climbs the stairs, not dropping my hand. Even though it means holding my arm out in front of me at an awkward angle, I don’t let his drop either. “I’m doing it with you. The first one, at least. Remember?”
We wind around a sharp corner to another set of stairs. “You said that, but you’ve also said there was no way in hell you’d be doing these excursions.”
“Guess I was right about hell because here I’m with you.”
He glares over his shoulder, his expression softening as he clocks my smile. “Are you saying I’m hell?”
“Damn close.” I jab him in the ribs and wonder if one’s the rib he fractured as a kid. “Come on, we have a zipline to conquer.”
“When did you become the confident one?” he asks as we continue our climb.
“One of us has to be. Today, it can be me.”
Nate raises an eyebrow. “What about tomorrow?”
“Guess we’ll see.”
Nate’s gray eyes dance in the shadows of the rainforest as he studies me, then exhales loudly. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”
When we reach the top of the first platform, I am more than ready to back out. We’re at least three stories in the air, well above the trees. I’m normally not afraid of heights, but the view is both stunning and terrifying.
Before us is a vast expanse of lush green rainforest, its dense canopy shimmering under the tropical sun.
Between the emerald leaves are vibrant bursts of color from blooming flowers.
We’re so high up, I can see things I never could from the ground.
A ribbon of river shines like glass as it winds through the forest. Birds of all colors and sizes flit through the trees, their songs mixing with the rustling of the leaves in the warm breeze.
Beyond the distant trees, sparkling blue ocean waves kiss white sandy beaches.
I inhale deeply; the air is earthy with vegetation and the faint salty tang of the ocean breeze. My heart is pounding, but I can’t let Nate know when I’m helping get him through this.
I give Nate what I hope is a reassuring smile.
“Don’t look down,” I whisper. It’s the least helpful thing I could have said because his sightline immediately drops. I catch his chin in my hand, acting purely on instinct, and lift his gaze to level with mine. “Don’t look down,” I say more firmly. “It’ll only make it more difficult.”
“I’m going to see it on the way down.”
“Will you still jump if you see what awaits you?”
Under my grip, Nate’s throat works a swallow. He reaches up to my hand, holding it between our chests like he’s getting ready to deliver a vow. “I won’t look down yet.”
I extract my hand from Nate’s as if pulling it from a fire. This moment is too intimate to share with anyone, let alone Nate. Even while helping him pretend to be Brody, there are lines. Clear, hard lines we cannot cross.
Thankfully, the crew reaches the top shortly after, and then it’s all business.
“Personal cameras with helmet straps,” Dave explains as Corbin hooks the video equipment onto us and the zipline guide straps the rest of the crew into their harnesses.
“We’ll have a cameraman go first to get some B-roll footage.
Jamie will follow with a GoPro helmet, so we’ll have some options.
Once she clears the frame, Brody and Abigail are up.
” Dave turns to us, his eyes on me. “Your cameras will be focused on you, so react to the experience, talk to the camera…whatever feels natural. Then Corbin and I will follow for more b-roll and footage of you two from behind.”
None of this feels natural, but I can’t back out now. I’m the only lifeline Nate has here, so I need to be the brave one.
Today, at least, I think I can be for Nate.
Or I’m sure as hell going to try.
Once Jamie and the other cameraman leave the platform, Nate and I get strapped into the harnesses while Corbin films us. My heart is racing. I can’t believe Nate and I are going to do this.
Nate leaves the platform first in what starts as a silent descent and quickly shifts into screams of joy that help convince me one zipline will be fine. I’ll make sure Nate is good and get the crew the footage they need. Then I’ll leave Nate to it. Doing one is brave enough, right?
“Ready?” the guide asks.
“As I’ll ever be,” I say. Sensing Corbin’s camera on me, I force a smile.
I squeeze my eyes shut as I drop off the platform.
Wind whooshes past my ears, and I tighten my grip.
Breathe. I count to three, then open my eyes.
There’s a canopy of treetops beneath me.
Shades of green whirl past as I hold on for dear life.
A piercing sound cuts through the wind, like a monkey hollering or a person being murdered, before I recognize the source is me.
People do this for fun? Almost as soon as the thought occurs, my perception shifts. There is a thrill from being this high, flying past all the blues and greens of the rainforest at a speed I’ve never experienced. I am flying. Succeeding. Soaring.
A smile stretches across my face despite the wind and the bugs pelting me. This isn’t that bad. In fact, it’s amazing.
As I reach the end of the zipline, and a guide stops and unclips me.
“That was…” Nate starts, a smile as big as my own on his face.
“Awesome?”
Nate takes a few steps closer, closing what little space remained between us on the platform. “It was incredible.”
Maybe we’re both caught up in the moment with adrenaline pumping through us so loudly there’s no hope of thinking logically or stopping what comes next.
One second we’re gushing about the zipline and scenery from above and the next we are embracing.
Willingly. Nate’s citrus and sage scent tickles my nostrils as our bodies, warm with sweat, wrap around each other so tightly that I can feel his taut muscles under his athletic tee.
It’s the sound of another crew member’s feet hitting the platform that reminds us where and who we are. We both step back, letting our arms fall to our sides without fuss so our confusion isn’t caught on camera.
“Whooo!” Nate cheers, overcompensating. At least it sounds like Brody. “Fifteen more to go!”
I’m less distracted now that I’m not inhaling his scent. “Not for me. Remember?” I was only doing one.
“After that rush, you’re telling me you can stop?”
I bite my lip and reach for my necklace. The high from the zipline or confusion from my embrace with Nate must have scrambled my brain cells because completing another zipline doesn’t sound so bad. “Okay, one more.”
I repeat that phrase 14 more times that afternoon, my smile growing each time as I swallow my fears and soar.